Downing Street is demanding a ‘full and public apology’ from the BBC’s Jeremy Paxman for calling the Prime Minister a ‘complete idiot’ over his plans for the First World War centenary.
The extraordinary public spat has erupted after the Newsnight presenter claimed Mr Cameron had likened the commemorations to last year’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
Mr Paxman incensed No10 when he told BBC chat show host Graham Norton last week he was ‘troubled’ by Mr Cameron ‘talking about how millions of pounds were going to be spent marking this anniversary’ and the fact that he had ‘compared it with the celebrations for the Diamond Jubilee’.

Mr Paxman said: ‘Therefore people get the idea that somehow this is going to be celebrated. Well, only a complete idiot would celebrate such a calamity.

'Three quarters of a million men never came back to this country.

'Millions of men served. Millions of men were wounded mentally and physically. No one would celebrate that. It was just Cameron’s clumsy use of language.’

Now a Downing Street aide, Tory MP Rob Wilson has written to BBC Director-General Lord Hall to demand an apology from the 63-year-old BBC veteran.

Mr Wilson – who is unlikely to have sent his letter without Mr Cameron’s tacit approval – describes Mr Paxman’s remarks as a ‘gross misrepresentation’ of the Prime Minister’s speech at the Imperial War Museum, in which he actually said: ‘I want a commemoration that captures our national spirit, in every corner of the country, from our schools to our workplaces, to our town halls and local communities. Scroll down for video

'Spirit': Cameron said at the Imperial War Museum: 'I want a commemoration that captures our national spirit, in every corner of the coutry...like the Diamond Jubilee celebrated this year'

Moment Paxman brands Cameron 'idiot' over Centenary plans

'A commemoration that, like the Diamond Jubilee celebrated this year, says something about who we are as a people.’

The Prime Minister used the speech, in October 2012, to announce that more than £50 million has been allocated for next year’s ‘historic’ commemoration of the outbreak of the war.

Angry: Tory MP Rob Wilson said Paxman made a a 'gross misrepresentation' of Cameron's speech

Mr Wilson writes: ‘Mr Paxman should make a full and public apology for his comments. He should make it clear to BBC viewers and licence fee payers that his remarks were inaccurate and ill-founded.’
The MP then stokes the political dimension of his attack by adding: ‘I would also like to ask whether you believe that it is appropriate for the face of the BBC’s flagship news programme, Newsnight, to make political attacks of this sort.

'This sneering and aggressive approach is one of the reasons many people are put off politics.’
The row comes just days after Mr Paxman came under attack from Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who also condemned the presenter’s ‘sneering’ attitude.
After Mr Paxman suggested that he was disillusioned with politics – saying he could ‘understand that the whole green-bench pantomime in Westminster looks a remote and self-important echo-chamber’ – Mr Clegg said: ‘Here is a guy who gets paid a million pounds, thereabouts, paid for by taxpayers. He lives off politics and he spends all his time sneering at politics.’
A BBC spokesman said: ‘We have not received Mr Wilson’s letter but when we do we will respond in due course.

Haha Paxman is such a dick, but I quite like it when he calls people out like this. I agree Nov, when people are losing their jobs and waiting for essential medical treatment for months, where is this money coming from?